Statute of Frauds

Robert Fultons Steamboat Clermont

Robert Fulton's Steamboat Clermont Robert Fultons steamboat the Clermont was undoubtedly the pioneer of practical steamboats. In 1801, Robert Fulton partnered with Robert Livingston to build the Clermont. Livingston had received a monopoly on steam navigation on the rivers of New York State for twenty years, provided that he produced a steam-powered vessel able to travel four miles an hour. Construction of the Clermont Robert Fulton arrived at New York in 1806 and began the construction of the Clermont, named after Robert Livingstons estate on the Hudson river. The building was done on the East River in New York City. However, the Clermont was then the butt of jokes of passersby, who nicknamed it Fultons Folly. Launch of the Clermont On Monday, August 17, 1807, the first voyage of the Clermont was begun. Carrying a party of invited guests, the Clermont steamed off at one oclock. Pine wood was the fuel. At one oclock Tuesday the boat arrived at Clermont, 110 miles from New York City. After spending the night at Clermont, the voyage was resumed on Wednesday. Albany, forty miles away, was reached in eight hours, making a record of 150 miles in thirty-two hours. Returning to New York City, the distance was covered in thirty hours. The steamboat Clermont was a success. The boat was then laid up for two weeks while the cabins were built, a roof built over the engine, and coverings placed over the paddle-wheels to catch the water spray. Then the Clermont began making regular trips to Albany, carrying sometimes a hundred passengers, making the round trip every four days and continued until floating ice marked the break for winter. Clermont Builder - Robert Fulton Robert Fulton was one of the most important figures in early American technology. Before his steamboat Clermont first ascended the Hudson River in 1807, he worked for years in England and France on industrial development, especially inland navigation and the cutting of canals, and built a submarine.

Food Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Food Policy - Essay Example The 15 member states of EU are also a habitat of giant food and beverage multinational enterprises, which have enormous influence on the global food environment, considering that these firms are producing both agricultural and manufactured products. The main thrust of this paper is to investigate global food policies (e.g., causes, solutions, & objectives), as well as the macro-environment of the food sector. In addition, this paper will evaluate the current trends in the food sector and various marketing strategies and issues within the global food business. 2.0 Global Food Policy According to Pinstrup-Andersen and Cheng (2009:1), ‘Food policy is a plan of collective action intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, behavior, and perceptions to enable people to achieve certain objectives.’ At present, the world’s food system or new departure programme ultimate objective is the ‘integration of consumer protection and food safety - and a focus on issues of transparency, participation, and accountability’ (Houghton et al., 2007:15). ... coli, and many more. This event has weakened the consumer’s confidence on food businesses, as well as to the government’s capacity of directing food firms to produce and sell safe and quality food products. Thus, the new food policy gave emphasis on consumer protection and interest or made end-users the core of the reform food safety system (Bergeaud-Blackler, 2004:11). Causes. The EU consumer policy is created because of the declaration that a single market efficiency will be attained only if consumers will actively participate in market activities, as an evidence that their confidence is already reinstated. After the foodborne disease scandal, the government has decided to ‘put food safety at the top of political agenda’ (Halkier and Holm, 2006:127), and it established minimum standards for the entire food fabrication, processing, and marketing (Burnett and Oddy, 1994). The serious food incident is a big challenge to food businesses all over the world bec ause food demand, sales, and consumer confidence have declined to the extent that some companies go bankrupt. The consequences are even more complicated considering that food firms need to invest a large amount for a product checking to restore the public confidence toward ‘food supply, food science, food law and food controls’ (van der Meulen and Freriks, 2006:157). Solutions. Setting policies to form a functional food system needs careful analysis on things that are directly or indirectly involved such as the economy, food chain management, environment, and marketing issues. An integrated policy is difficult to obtain because policy makers need to examine the different macro-economic environmental issues (e.g., culture, history, economic affairs, export & import trading, etc.) of many countries

Providing a Motivation for Addressing Your Topic Assignment

Providing a Motivation for Addressing Your Topic - Assignment Example This has really paralyzed the education sector in the whole country. This paper will conduct an extensive research on the causes of this menace and give well-thought and feasible recommendations on how it can be ultimately resolved (Creswell, 2008). Of course, this topic is quite interesting to me. As an educationist, I am a strong advocate for quality education, which I believe, can not be attained if no adequate funding is provided. For this reason, the federal, state and local governments have been pumping money into all the public elementary and high schools across the country that deserve such a funding. In fact, out of its revenues, the federal allocates approximately 4% of its budget for education (Radin, 2006). Since these are public resources, they should be properly utilized at all times. For this reason, the government, through its relevant agencies, has been mandated to be in charge of the disbursed allocations. However, with the liberalization of the education sector, various state departments of education have decentralized financial control to the individual school principals and administrators. Under the supervision of the School district Management Boards, each principal has been allowed to identify their needs and develop their own budget. This is commendable since it is them who understand their demands. Interestingly, school resources are still being misused during each and every budget year. Instead of acting as the custodians of school funds, many principals and school administrators have been robbing their institutions of their resources. They do not use it as planned (Starr, 2014). At times, they are tempted to divert these resources into their own personal uses. This has been quite unfortunate because it has been denying thousands of poor American children the opportunity acquire government sponsored education which they entirely rely on. According to past records, there are

International Relations to East Asia Research Paper

International Relations to East Asia - Research Paper Example In the 19th century, Japan decided to adopt a developmentalism ideology as a defense mechanism in the then prevailing harsh and deep rooted competition from imperial states. Japan was determined to rise economically to enable it compete comfortably among the then well established states from the western region. The process of rapid development started before world war two. However, it stagnated greatly because the war interrupted the environment for Japan to develop. After the war, Japan set out to achieve its dream of being industrialized. The Japanese government concentrated on development policies in all its endeavors. The Japanese government was prepared to take any risk as long as that risk resulted to rapid economic expansion. Dent (2008) argues that some risks involved putting on hold all other policy agendas. At that time, it did not matter, whether the policy agendas ignored concerned the environment or nature. The opinion of the public did not count in the making of vital d ecisions, but rather the government was pragmatic and concentrated on the development goals. On the contrary, big businesses, politicians, and bureaucrats dominated the race to attaining industrialization. Japan’s primary target was to join organizations of the rich countries and therefore these three pillars worked tirelessly in implementing the policies set up by the government, to favor industrialization. In Asia, Japan got industrialized first through concentrating on development goals and preferably adopted this system because it was in a rush to join the global economy (Flath, 2005). The Japanese government formulated policies that favored the big corporations. In addition, these corporations received protection and support from the government. The bureaucrats had great potential to control government projects and therefore they ensured that these corporations thrived under all costs. In most cases, the government allowed the bureaucrat hierarchy to have more powers tha n the politicians. These bureaucrats formed a hierarchy in The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Members of the civil society did not participate in policymaking. Concentration on big corporations left out small and medium industries. The bureaucrats exerted great influence on the entire process of policymaking in Japan reaching a point whereby they acquired a dominant position. Despite Diet, the legislative body according the dominating power to cabinet, strategies from the bureaucrats overpowered the cabinet (Dent, 2008). It is through this system that the Japanese government rose to participate in the global economy. Japan gained entry into the Group 8 organization of rich countries (G8) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Since the Japanese government chose to ignore all other policy agendas as they rose to the level of global economy, the great economic achievement brought about increased environmental pollut ion. The public condemned the companies that contributed to the highest level of pollution. In the process of industrialization, the government ignored the voice of the public. The big corporations that the government supported were under no obligation to take moral responsibility in protection of the environment. The public suffered terrible effects of the pollution. There was increased emergence of unknown diseases in the society because of pollution. These were the worst risks the government

Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The rapid development in the hospitality industry which has lead to importance of strategic planning required in order the firms can have a steady rise in the industry. The life standards of people have been improved due to globalisation which in deed contribute to the development of the hospitality industry. The diversification was a most important priority of the firms in order to utilise the high profiled customer base which they possessed .It is easy to target the customers who are in your door step and this lead to various formulation of strategic plans to target them. Key words: hospitality, strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization frame work of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors) and EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatics, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal). Strategic planning is the official consideration of an organizations future course. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions: What do we do? For whom do we do it? How do we excel? The  hospitality industry  consists of broad category of fields within the service industry that includes  lodging,  restaurants,  event planning,  theme parks,  transportation,  cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. The hospitality industry is a several billion dollar industry that mostly depends on the availability of leisure time and disposable income. A hospitality unit such as a restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of multiple groups such as facility maintenance, direct operations (servers,  housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers,  bartenders, etc.), management, marketing, and human resources. The hospitality industry includes a wide range of organizations offering food service and accommodation. The hospitality industry is divided into sectors according to the skill-sets required for the work involved. Sectors include accommodation, food and beverage, meeting and events, gaming, entertainment and recreation, tourism services, and visitor information. (wikepedia n.d.) Strategic planning for the hospitality industry (1) The increasing popularity of strategic planning in recent times is attributed to accelerating changes in industries and economies and increasing global competition. (2) The rapid development of strategic-planning that executives find useful. Firms that engage in strategic planning tend to have higher performance. (3) A recent study of hotels in the United Kingdom found that business performance was positively associated with the thoroughness, sophistication, participation, and formality of strategic-planning processes. (4) Strategic analysis the systematic investigation of a firm and its environment is the foundation of the strategic management process. STRATEGIC PLANNING IN JACK IN THE BOX Jack in the Box recently announced plans to open 100 to 150 restaurants combined with convenience stores over the next five years. The stores will feature full-size restaurants and also sell gasoline and other typical convenience store items such as bread and milk. How did Jack in the Box arrive at this decision? According to the companys CEO, Bob Nugent, an analysis of the convenience-store market indicated that there was plenty of opportunity, primarily because no individual company dominates. The largest player in the convenience-store industry which dominated the market, 7-Eleven, Inc., controls slightly over 4 percent of the market. Compare this to fast foods, where McDonalds controls 43 percent of the market and Jack in the Box a mere 4.6 percent. Nugent also justifies his decision on the basis of research which indicates that a convenience-store customer is twice as likely to eat fast food as a non-convenience-store customer. (5) Strategic analysis can provide excellent information on which to base long-range decisions such as this one. Knowledge is one of the most important competitive weapons a firm can possess. (6) As the Jack in the Box example illustrates, detailed knowledge about a firm and its environment can be used to generate new ideas for business  and to evaluate the feasibility of ideas before they are actually implemented. Strategic analysis also allows a firms managers to become more aware of the companys strengths and weaknesses and to understand the reasons behind successes and failures. Knowledge about the competitive environment can help to anticipate and plan for changes and predict how competitors or other stakeholders such as customers or suppliers will respond to new strategies or other organizational activities. Strategic analysis can open up channels of communication between high-level managers and subordinates, allowing them to share ideas and perspectives. The participative process will help subordinates to accept changes more readily after decisions are made. (Harrison April, 2003) STRATEGIC PLANS AT FelCor LODGING TRUST For FelCor Lodging Trust, one of the largest hotel real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the United States, a strategic planning exercise led the company to rethink its strategy. Calling itself the New FelCor, the firm has made dramatic steps toward repositioning itself. The firm business strategy is to dispose of nonstrategic hotels, including all of its Holiday Inn Hotels located in secondary and tertiary markets. After the sale, it will have lower exposure to markets with low barriers to entry. Other elements of the new business strategy are (1) To acquire hotels in high barrier to entry markets (2) To improve the competitive positioning of core hotels through aggressive asset management and the judicious application of capital in the industry (3) To pay down debt through a combination of operational cash flow and the sale of nonstrategic hotels. The company will become a lower leveraged company with a stronger and fully renovated portfolio of hotels. STRATEGIC THINKING AT STARWOOD When Starwood thought of expanding their business to a field which is relevant and easy to attract customers .They in hotel industry and had a close association with the luxury segment customers so they thought Expansion through Diversification strategy in order use their same luxury customer base to sell their newly introduced Heavenly Bed . Westin Hotels Resorts, with 169 hotels and resorts in more than 31 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc The Heavenly Bed, first launched by the Westin brand of Starwood Hotels Resorts, has transformed the bed, a basic feature of any hotel room, into a luxurious object of desire, enhancing the revenues of the chain and leaving many hotel operators to follow suit with copycat linens and custom bedding of their own. The strategic process at Starwood began with consumer analysis and product testing. First, Westin conducted a study involving 600 business executives who travel frequently. The results showed that 84 percent said a luxurious bed would make a hotel room more attractive to them to enjoy the comfort. What is more, 63 percent said a good night sleep is the most important service a hotel can provide. Half of those surveyed said they sleep worse in hotels than at home. After testing 50 beds from 35 lodging chains, Westin developed its prototype all white Heavenly Bed with a custom designed pillow top mattress, goose down comforters, five pillows, and three crisp sheets ranging in thread count from 180 to 250. Once the product was designed and tested, the firm introduced the bed with a carefully planned marketing strategy are USA Today ran a story on the front page of its business section. The same day, 20 pristine white Heavenly Beds lined Wall Street up to the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Inside the Stock Exchange, Barry Sternlicht, the then Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels Resorts rang the opening bell and threw out hats proclaiming, Work like the devil Sleep like an angel. Meanwhile, at New York Grand Central Station, 20 more beds graced one of the rotundas there, and commuters disembarking the trains were invited to try them out. Similar events were staged the same day at 38 locations across the United States, tailored to each city. Savannahs event featured a bed floating on a barge down the river with a landing skydiver. Seattle s event took place atop the Space Needle. To reinforce the message, a concurrent advertising campaign asked, Whos the best in bed? AN EMERGING RETAIL STRATEGY FOR THE HEAVENLY BED In the early stages of introducing the heavenly bed .In the first week of launching the Westin Heavenly Bed, 32 guests were interested to buy the bed. A light bulb went on. Westin executives put order cards with a toll free number in every room. They started placing catalogs by bedsides and desks and set up a web site. By June of 2004, Westin had sold 20,000 pillows $ 75 for the king sized version and 3,500 bed/bedding combos, at $ 2,965 each, enough to spread the idea throughout Starwood, with the Sheraton, St. Regis, and W lines all turning into retailers. The unanticipated success of the Heavenly Bed has spawned a new business companies that help hotels run their retail arms. Boxport, a spin off of San Francisco based hotel procurer Higgins Purchasing Group, operates web sites and catalogs for several chains that now sell bedding. In order to determine where it is going, the organization needs to know exactly where it stands, then determine where it wants to go and how it will get there. The resulting document is called the strategic plan. It is also true that strategic planning may be a tool for effectively plotting the direction of a company; however, strategic planning itself cannot foretell exactly how the market will evolve and what issues will surface in the coming days in order to plan your organizational strategy. Therefore, strategic innovation and tinkering with the strategic plan have to be a cornerstone strategy for an organization to survive the turbulent business climate.

E-waste Essay -- Waste Management, Disposal and Recycling

Over the past decade there was a prominent development observed in the sphere of high technologies production, so the scale of electronics market becomes wider and spins up from day to day. â€Å"According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), consumers were expected to purchase 500 million units of consumer electronics in the US in 2008. US households spend about $1407 per year on hardware.† (Electronics Takeback coalition, 2010) Accordingly, there is a clear tendency of rapid substitution of electronic appliances observed, as every other day producers offer consumers more efficient and powerful gadgets instead of their predecessors. Consequently, high rate in electronics upgrading results in shortening of their lifespan and following stockpiling of needless gadgets, which then become a part of municipal waste. These end-of-life electronic devices are often called ‘electronic waste, or e-waste’. Now approximately 20-25 million tons of e-waste is estimate d to be produced worldwide every year with the largest number of electronics being discarded in Europe, the United States and Australasia. (Brett H. Robinson, 2009) Hence, there is a serious challenge of management of e-waste disposal appearing across the whole world. Figures show that a very small percentage of electronic waste undergoes recycling process, whilst its lion share is stockpiled in landfills or incinerated with the rest of solid municipal waste. According to EPA, in the U.S. in 2008 3.16 million tons of electronic waste was produced and only 430.000 tons which constitute 13.6% were recycled. (TakeBack Coalition, 2010) This essay will present main points of e-waste problem, analyze possible solutions of the problem and discuss if they are suitable and efficient en... ...ied to the electronic waste issue. However, not all of them can be successfully developed and utilized to the solution. Donation of tons of electronic devices to developing nations is not efficient, as in its most part gadgets arrive in condition improper for reuse. Consequently, export of electronics to third world countries for reuse only result in exposure of more land to contamination with hazardous components in the absence of any proper recycling programs there. Therefore, it may be concluded that legislation method, or establishing takeback programs, would be the most efficient out of all proposed solutions. Extended producer responsibility will not only systemize the recycling process but also it will give a great motivation to manufacturers to come up with new design of technologies that will be less poisonous and easier to undergo recycling management.